Big news for my clients who have been asking about this for years! On 28 July 2026, Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat announced that private property owners buying a non-subsidised HDB resale flat no longer need to serve the 15-month wait-out period. The change took immediate effect, confirmed in a joint statement by MND and HDB that same day.
Even better — the buying sequence has flipped back to how it was before September 2022. Private property owners can now buy the HDB resale flat first, then sell off all their private properties (in Singapore and overseas) within six months of completing the HDB purchase. The one condition: the purchase must be made without an HDB housing loan.
For those who missed the saga, the 15-month wait-out was introduced on 30 September 2022 as a cooling measure. It meant selling your private home first, then waiting 15 months before you could even buy a resale flat. MND says the rule was always temporary, and with the HDB Resale Price Index showing seven consecutive quarters of slower, flat or negative growth — including declines of 0.1% and 0.3% in the last two quarters — the market has stabilised enough to remove it.
Before anyone gets too excited, do note what has not changed. The 30-month wait-out still applies if you want to buy a new flat from HDB, buy a resale flat with CPF housing grants, buy an EC from a developer, or take an HDB housing loan. And yes, you still need a valid HFE letter before buying.
One lovely change for seniors: those aged 55 and above who were previously limited to 4-room or smaller flats under the old exemption can now cancel and re-apply for a new HFE letter to buy a 5-room or larger flat — as long as no HDB loan is involved.
If you’ve been holding off your right-sizing plans because of this rule, do check your eligibility with HDB, and feel free to reach out if you’d like help planning your timeline. ❤️
